I elementenes vold : Skillingsviser om naturkatastrofer og ulykker, 1624–1936

Abstract

For three hundred years, it was common in Norway to sing about natural disasters and accidents. From the 1620s to the 1930s, landslides, earthquakes, floods, sea accidents, fires, volcanic eruptions and famines were depicted in simple songbooks – sold for a shilling or two. What did such songs mean to those who lived before us? What can the songs tell us about the past’s view of weather and natural forces, news and sensationalism, death and grief, poverty and vulnerability, unity and solidarity?

This book documents the unique place of the «shilling songs» (broadside ballads) in Norwegian cultural history. By examining shilling prints that have long been hidden and forgotten, the book shows how songs about dramatic events were our first social news medium. This book illuminates popular notions of disaster as a punishment from God and as a warning of doomsday. The book sheds new light on the important role of the song of the centurion in a Lutheran culture of remembrance, and it shows how our ancestors used song to create order and meaning in the face of chaos and death.